The Characterization of Salmonella isolated from Pig Meat in Northern Ireland by PFGE and Antibiotic Resistance Profiles

The emergence of antibiotic resistance and especially multiple antibiotic resistance Salmonella has become a concern for the pig industry throughout the EU. Pig herds and pork are considered as principal reservoirs for the multi-resistant Salmonella type Typhimunum DT104, which has acquired resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycm, sulphonamides and tetracycline. This resistance pattern is also known as ACSSuT. In this study Porcine Salmonella strains were isolated between December 2005 and December 2006. The strains origmated from an abattoir study sampling the \u27oyster\u27 cut. The Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of all Salmonella isolates in this study were determined by disk diffusion tests. Twelve antibiotics were utilized throughout the profiling procedure Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), which is regarded as the Gold Standard for the typmg and strain identification of Salmonella isolates, was used to determine DNA fingerprints of the Salmonella isolates using the restriction enzyme Xbal (Invitrogen) The fragments were then separated by PFGE in a Chef DR II system (Bio-Rad). This enabled comparison of Salmonella isolated in this study